The end and the beginning....

16 to 11.
The boys I watched grow up on a lacrosse field, the boys who became young men who I am proud to know, got outrun and outgunned today by a style they'd never seen before and a team with a bigger 'A' game.

I couldn't be there.
I couldn't take a seven hour bus trip, spend three hours sitting on bleachers in a stadium, and then take another seven hour bus trip home.
I watched the whole thing on CSTV, the quick shots, the beautiful blocks, the effortless plays, the razor sharp slicing of the NYIT kids to the net. I watched the navy blue uniforms start their celebration with a minute to go, knowing that Lemoyne couldn't possibly pull ahead of them in a bare minute. I watched them swarm the field, the way that green uniforms had swarmed the field last year in Baltimore.

I wanted to tell them, all of them, how proud I am to have seen them play, seen them grow up. I looked at my liveSTRONG wristband and knew that four years ago, the idea that I'd ever see this day was just an idea, a dream.

Now, Beam is taller than I am, and when he hugs me I want to make every hug last until I can't breathe any more. It's the same with A.--when he hugs me, I never want to let go.

I want to tell them it's not about winning--it's about how you play the game.

Except I think tonight, for some of them looking at their last game, it might have been about winning. Someday, I hope they realize that just getting to play at that level is winning. Storming the field carrying the trophy is just a perk--the final score is that they showed up.

I am so proud to know them.